The slides below are from a presentation I did last week at the Monash Law Chambers as part of a four speaker mix on Law and Regulation of Virtual Worlds. The embed below has just been elevated as a slideshare featured presentation – so goes to show what a catchy title will do. I co-presented with Dan Hunter, New York Law School, Melbourne University Law, Melissa deZwart, Senior Lecturer, Monash Law and David Lindsay, Senior Lecturer, Monash Law. A great crowd attended and my talk hopefully raised a few issues as I scattered various cans of worms for fellow speakers to pick-up on. It was all very civilised until we got to a panel session when a diverse range of views on copyright law (or none) sprung up – “huh, you wanna fight” video below.

The main thrust of my talk began midway and I decided to be devil’s advocate in mapping 18 ‘joke’ commandments onto a range of worlds (Second Life, Habbo, WoW, there.com, Ultima etc:) based on some recent and on-going cases. Also many of these were also meant to be a response to the anti-world hype generated by traditional journalism and other heritage media.

Thou shalt not steal virtual furniture…or skin

Thou shalt not trade, against the terms of the EULA

Thou shalt not spy or record players activities!

Thou shalt not fornicate with avatars or publish porn

Thou shalt not cheat game worlds (by using bots)

Thou must not deliberately use misleading identity

Thou shalt not counterfeit virtual goods

Do not gather in groups to represent legal entities

Thou shalt not engage in Child (or Age) Play

Thou shalt not film others IP for commercial gain

Thou shalt not model real world cultural icons

Thou will not sell virtual goods in the real world

Thou shalt be controlled by un-policed mafia

Thou must not make false financial promises for gain

Thou shalt not, not use DMCA

Thou will not cause Ã¢Â€Â˜grief toÃ¢Â€Â™ or deface work of others

Thou shalt not play copyright media in your world

Thou shalt not copy then sell goods as your own IP

Finally for those who are having problems dealing with what’s real and what isn’t another classic from the quirky APEC Education Foundation Series